Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.
Interpretation
As women age and gain experience, they become more resilient and less susceptible to control by societal expectations.
This quote highlights the idea that while younger women may still be molded or influenced by external pressures and challenges, older women possess a strength and independence that makes them resistant to such control. It reflects the journey of growth, self-discovery, and the complexities of womanhood, suggesting that wisdom and age lead to a fierce autonomy that cannot easily be swayed.
In practice
This quote can be used in a women's empowerment workshop to inspire confidence in older women.
But suppose one doesn't quite know which one wants to put first. Suppose," said Harriet, falling back on words which were not her own, "suppose one is cursed with both a heart and a brain?" "You can usually tell," said Miss de Vine, "by seeing what kind of mistakes you make. I'm quite sure that one never makes fundamental mistakes about the thing one really wants to do. Fundamental mistakes arise out of lack of genuine interest. In my opinion, that is.
. . . the fellow's got a bee in his bonnet. Thinks God's a secretion of the liver--all right once in a way, but there's no need to keep on about it. There's nothing you can't prove if your outlook is only sufficiently limited.
You're thinking that people don't keep up old jealousies for twenty years or so. Perhaps not. Not just primitive, brute jealousy. That means a word and a blow. But the thing that rankles is hurt vanity. That sticks. Humiliation. And we've all got a sore spot we don't like to have touched.
None of us feels the true love of God till we realize how wicked we are. But you can't teach people that - they have to learn by experience.
What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person.
[O]ne can scarcely be frightened off writing what one wants to write for fear an obscure reviewer should patronise one on that account.
Like a man who has been dying for many days, a man in your city is numb to the stench.
For each and every person, our Lord and Master provides sustenance. Why are you so afraid, O mind? The flamingos fly hundreds of miles, leaving their young ones behind. Who feeds them, and who teaches them to feed themselves? Have you ever thought of this in your mind?
REFLECTION,n: An Action of the mind whereby we obtain a clearer view of our relation to the things of yesterday and are able to avoid the perils that we shall not again encounter
You learn that existence is legible but that you have to have a critical mind if you're going to read it.
Self-compassion - being supportive and kind to yourself, especially in the face of stress and failure - is associated with more motivation and better self-control.
I was taught you don't tell your secrets to strangers - certainly not secrets that expose error, weakness, failure. My generation, like its predecessors, was taught that since our achievements received little notice or credit from white America, we were not to discuss our faults, lapses, or uncertainties in public.
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